Legenda Monyet Pertama

The first monkey story

(Favourite story from Philippines)
Legenda Monyet Pertama

Legenda Monyet Pertama

Many years ago, there was a king and queen who lived in Mindanao. They were
not liked by their people. The king was cruel and the queen was greedy.
Legenda Monyet Pertama
The king collected a lot of money from his people and gave it to the queen. The
queen bought expensive food, wine and clothes from all over the world and kept them in
the palace.
Legenda Monyet Pertama
One day, the king gave a party in the palace garden. There were six tables placed
in the shade of some tall trees. Next to the trees, there was a large pond with goldfish in
it.
Legenda Monyet Pertama
Soon the guests arrived and everybody started eating and enjoying themselves.
Suddenly, an old woman entered the garden. No one knew where she came from. She
approached each table and begged for food. No one gave her any and the king told his
guest to chase her away.
Legenda Monyet Pertama
“Your Majesty, please have pity on me! I am an old man. I haven’t eaten any food
for several days.”
The queen, who was sitting next to the king became angry. “Go away, old woman!”
she shouted. “Who asked you to come here? This party is for rich and important
people.”
Legenda Monyet Pertama
The king roared with laughter. He banged the table with spoon.
“Chase her away!” he cried. Everyone started beating her with their spoon. They
chased the poor old woman all over the palace garden, suddenly, there was a great
crash of thunder and a bright flash lightning. The old woman changed into a beautiful
girl.
Legenda Monyet Pertama
 “You are not human beings,” she said “You are all so cruel. None of you wanted to
help me. Because of this, I shall changed you into monkeys.”
Legenda Monyet Pertama
She clapped her hands. Immediately, the spoon turned into tails and fixed
themselves on the backs of the king, queen and their guests. The beautiful clothes
which they were wearing turned into long hair. Their fingers and toes grew longer. When
they tried to speak, they could chatter only like monkeys.
Legenda Monyet Pertama
They ran back to the palace but the king’s guards chased them away, and threw
stones at them. “Go away, you dirty little things!” the guards shouted. “This is the king’
palace.
Legenda Monyet Pertama
As they had nowhere to go. They hid in the forest and hills where they have ever
since.